It is expected that in future communication applications the amount of data to be transferred between devices is permanently increasing. This leads to an enormous increase in data rates inside individual devices and between the devices. Presently, copper connections are increasingly limited in length and/or bandwidth while optical connections offer both a high bandwidth and almost unlimited distance, except where limited by transmission protocols.
The basic function of a Device-to-Device Optical Connection (DDOC) is to transmit an optical signal for communication with low losses from a host device to a remote device and supply the remote device with electrical energy. Hybrid cables comprise optical waveguides, for example optical fibers, for transferring optical signals and electrical conductors to supply electrical power. In order to prevent additional losses occurring when transforming the optical signals into electrical signals inside a plug connector, it is necessary to directly couple the optical waveguides of a hybrid cable to the optical waveguides or optoelectronic devices of a remote device. The remote device may be configured as a consumer electronic devices, for example a smartphone or a laptop computer. The coupling of an optical waveguide of a hybrid cable with an optical waveguide of a consumer electronic device requires a precise alignment of the optical waveguides.
Furthermore, the optical interface between the hybrid cable and the consumer electronic device has to be protected from dust and/or has to be easily cleaned to allow a high optical performance when coupling optical signals via the optical interface between the hybrid cable and the electronic device. Furthermore, the small design of current consumer electronic devices requires the realization of a plug connector coupled to the hybrid cable and a receptacle of a consumer electronic device to receive the plug connector with a small form factor. The optical interface comprising the plug connector and the receptacle should have a robust design to allow a precise and reliable mechanical connection between the plug connector and the receptacle. Furthermore, the plug connector has to be securely held in the receptacle by an appropriate locking mechanism.
It is a desire to provide a plug connector to couple a hybrid cable to a receptacle to allow transmitting optical signals for communication between an electronic device and the hybrid cable with low losses and to supply electrical energy to the electronic device via the plug connector. There is also a need to provide a receptacle to receive a plug connector to couple a hybrid cable to the receptacle to allow transmitting optical signals for communication with low losses between an electronic device and the hybrid cable and to supply electrical energy to the electronic device. A further concern is to provide an interface to couple a hybrid cable to an electronic device to transmit optical signals to the electronic device with low losses and to supply electrical energy to the electronic device via the interface.